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Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit gets its own specifications breakdown
Generally speaking, we don't much care about the nuts and bolts behind a thrill ride. If it thrills, it's a winner; if not, it's a failure. But the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is a horse of a different color, and being that it's described as the planet's most technologically advanced coaster, we figured it prudent to pass along the details that only true nerds could appreciate. For starters, each rider will have access to a touchpad in order to select their own ride soundtrack from a 30 song library. There's also a half dozen cameras in the ride vehicle alongside eight others along the track, all of which combine to assemble a take-home video of the experience if you'd like. Speaking of, check out the demo vid just past the break, and look for this to open to the public later this summer.
Bourne Triology hitting Blu-ray Disc in January 2009
Bourne is already a proven winner in high-def, so it's no shock at all to see that Universal Studios Home Entertainment is finally bringing the acclaimed trilogy to Blu-ray. The only real surprise is the release date; rather than squeezing it in before the holiday break, Universal's hoping to grab a small chunk of your grandma money in late January. The three pack, which will obviously include The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, will not only include hours of bonus materials including deleted scenes, interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentaries, but it'll also take advantage of BD-Live. The disc will grant access to the studio's BD-Live Center, where fans can then "download even more bonus content, share their favorite scenes with buddies, and engage in a BD-exclusive strategy game that pits users against each other in hand-to-hand combat simulation." Too bad the MSRP is set at $119.98, but you've got until January 27, 2009 to get enough couch change together.[Via Blu-ray, thanks Anthony]
D-BOX deal brings Motion Code rumblings to Universal Blu-ray Discs
We'll be completely honest -- we had every idea that D-BOX would just fade away into the sunset just a few short months after we initially heard about it. Au Contraire! In just the past week, we've seen the outfit -- which is responsible for a rumbling Motion Code technology that enables you to "feel" the motions of the movie you're watching -- venture into the wide world of gaming and now into Universal's heart. Starting with the December 23-bound Death Race, D-BOX Motion Code will be available on select Universal Studios Home Entertainment Blu-ray Discs, and if we were still placing bets, we'd now say this is probably just the first of many big studio licensing agreements to come.
Nickelodeon's first true HD program coming soon: My Family's Got Guts!
For fans of the now-deceased Nickelodeon GUTS, we've excellent news. We've received word that Nickelodeon will soon be launching its first HD program to be produced entirely in high-def to subscribers of DirecTV and Cablevision. The show, dubbed My Family's Got Guts!, will be shot and edited in HD at Universal Studios Florida and will be hosted by E!'s Ben Lyons. Looking for a date to circle in your datebook? Try September 15th.[Thanks, Anonymous]
Rockit coaster tapes your ride, produces best YouTube vid ever
While many thrill rides we yearn to strap ourselves into aren't even in the US, a new ride headed to Universal Studios Orlando is apt to thrill the YouTube generation -- on purpose. Reportedly, designers are crafting the so-called Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit to cater to those obsessed with technology (that's us) by enabling patrons to personalize their ride by choosing their own tunes and creating a music video that can be uploaded for all your envious friends to see as soon as you can whip out that 3G card and mash "upload." 'Course, there's a few loops, drops and a 167-foot-tall peak, but it's the "digital audio and video effects" during the ride that you're really anxious to experience, yeah? Clear the calendar now -- this one is set to open next Spring.[Thanks, Jonathan]
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 HD DVD arriving sans quality?
It's not like we haven't seen a high-profile HD title released without the expected level of quality, but it seems the QA lapse is bugging the HD DVD camp this go 'round. Apparently, hordes of angry Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 HD DVD buyers are flocking to message boards to grumble about the shoddy packaging, scratched up discs and other picture / audio niggles that certainly should not be appearing on a $70 (or more) box set. As the above image illustrates, it seems that some buyers are receiving the set only to find a plethora of unwanted scratches (presumably due to misaligned packaging), and if the stuttering playback wasn't bad enough, some customers are also finding image quality / audio sync issues with the included mini series. So, dear readers, have any of you experienced similar headaches? And if so, what's your plan of action?[Image courtesy of Amazon / J. Ryder, thanks Robert P.]
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 coming to HD DVD
If you were amped up to find that Star Trek: The Original Series was headed to HD DVD, this tidbit could result in copious amounts of celebrating. Universal Studios has just announced that it will be bringing the complete first season of Battlestar Galactica to HD DVD this winter "in one elaborate box set." Reportedly, the set will be "presented in 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic video and include a pair of audio options: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1." Additionally, the package will be brimming with extras including a "picture-in-picture video commentary on the entire mini-series, more than a half-dozen featurettes, multiple deleted scenes," and the tantalizing "Encyclopedia Galactica." Mark your calendars, folks, as the set is slated to land on December 4th for $99.98.[Via HighDefDigest]
The Hulk HD DVD gets shelved
The Man Room is reporting that The Hulk not going to be coming out on November 14 as previously announced. We have no idea why Universal Studios has bumped the release but sometimes these studios do know more then we do. This just proves that delays aren't something that only the Blu-ray camp has to deal with. We will update our release calendar accordingly and keep you up-to-date when the title gets re-announced.
Universal Studios boss gives thumbs down to Blu-ray, but...
Before you think this is going to be an article hailing the downfall of Sony, let us assure you that it's not. We're going to shake our heads and furrow our brows at the head of Universal Studios, Craig Kornblau and his early decision to backhand Blu-ray in the face. Kornblau bases his decision on a couple of head-to-head comparisons that have floated around the net for a while. One of which had early editions of Blu-ray DVDs running the videos on a MPEG-2 format (which isn't quite as good as the VC-1 the HD-DVDs had employed at the time of comparison). We've previously discussed how Blu-ray is now incorporating MPEG-4 into many movies, at least from 20th Century Fox. MPEG-4 is the best of the best and can be used by both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, so says the great Wikipedia.As far as pricing and availability go, Kornblau is fairly right -- HD-DVD is ahead for now. But hey, didn't the PS2 help ease the DVD format into millions of households? It wasn't the sole cause, but it sure helped. Perhaps Blu-ray needs that final push to get it out of the shadows and into some kind of spotlight. Universal was never a supporter of Blu-ray, so we'll take this with a grain of salt, sit back, wait, and watch as the battle ensues (as soon as HDTV's become the standard entertainment medium). For your homework, if anyone can find a head-to-head comparison of Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD where both are using the same playback medium, TV, and MPEG4 encoding, let us know and we'll write up a nice report on it.[see also Joystiq's take on the news][Thanks to Wes for this article!]
More networks suing Cablevision over networked DVR
Trouble is brewing in TV land, and the stakes couldn't be higher for consumers, as a lawsuit filed by many of your favorite content providers against industry giant Cablevision could determine the future of networked DVR services. Two Time Warner networks (disclaimer: Engadget's parent company's parent company's parent company is Time Warner), CNN and Cartoon Network, have joined Disney, Universal, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox in fighting Cablevision's plan to offer subscribers the option of recording their programming to the company's servers, arguing that allowing at-will remote access to stored content constitutes a re-transmission, and therefore violates copyright agreements. What makes Time Warner's entry into the fray particularly interesting is the fact that another one of its divisions, Time Warner Cable, has publicly expressed interest in the concept of networked DVR, meaning that either outcome of the lawsuit would be potentially beneficial to the company. Way to go guys, you can never go wrong playing both sides of the fence.
Universal Studios starts mobile division
Yeah, everybody is doing it, but there's always room for one more media conglomerate to create overpriced mobile content for the masses. Universal Studios has just launched a mobile unit, Universal Mobile Entertainment, that will provide mobile content based on Universal properties. Turns out they'll be playing it pretty safe, with games, ringtones and mobile versions of existing video clips. Tie-ins will include modern hits like "Battlestar Galactica" and classics such as "Jaws." They're also looking into the possibility of doing mobisodes like those done for ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "Prison Break," but nothing solid on that front yet.[Via MocoNews]
